Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Introduction: George Bernard Shaw: Revolutionary Playwright 1. Previsions of the Superman in the Coming Age of Will: The Quintessence of Ibsenism 2. Utopia in Flames: Shaw and Wagner's Ring: The Perfect Wagnerite 3. From Hell to Heaven: Creative Evolution and the Drive towards the Military-Industrial-Religious Complex: Man and Superman, John Bull's Other Island, Major Barbara 4. Shaw's Modern Utopia: Back to Methuselah 5. Shaw's Totalitarian Drama of the Thirties; or, Shaw and the Dictators: Geneva, The Millionairess, The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles 6. George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950, Utopian to the End: Farfetched Fables EPILOGUE
Synopsis
This book reveals the genuity of Shaw's totalitarianism by looking at his material - articles, speeches, letters, etc but is especially concerned with analyzing the utopian desire that runs through so many of Shaw's plays; looking at his political and eugenic utopianism as expressed in his drama and comparing this to his political totalitarianism.